JOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- Former military ruler Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo won the presidential nomination of the country's main party, the Peoples Democratic Party, on Monday. The vote makes Obasanjo the most likely candidate to win the February 27 election, after which the military has promised to restore civilian rule.

A party convention in the northern town of Jos, 240 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of the capital Abuja, saw Obasanjo winning just under 70 percent of the votes from the 2,439 delegates.

"My joy knows no bounds," Obasanjo said in his acceptance speech. "I will devote all my energy and all the powers available to me to the service of Nigeria and humanity."

The PDP has swept recent local and state elections in this oil-producing country of at least 108 million people. Obasanjo, in his early 60s, is now seen as the strongest contender to lead the country back to civilian rule -- and out of poverty, ethnic divisions and widespread corruption.

Nigeria, which has been ruled by military leaders for all but 10 years since independence from Britain in 1960, has been moving toward civilian rule since the death of dictator Gen. Sani Abacha in June.

Abacha's successor, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, has vowed repeatedly to hand power over to a civilian administration in May.

No stranger to politics

Obasanjo was released from prison after the death of Abacha, who had accused him of plotting a coup.

Obasanjo ruled Nigeria for three years before giving up power voluntarily to an elected government in 1979 -- the only Nigerian military ruler ever to do so.

Although he refused at first to seek the presidency he gave up in 1979, friends at home and abroad convinced him he was the man who could lead Africa's most populous nation into its latest attempt at democracy.

His enemies, however, accuse him of being a stooge of the military and the Muslim north, which has dominated Nigerian political life since independence.

But Obasanjo says he supports democracy. "Democracy may not necessarily ensure rapid economic development of affluence but it is, at least, the best form of government that ensures reasonable participation," he wrote in his book, "Not My Will," published in 1990.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Nigeria parties select presidential nominees
February 14, 1999
Centrist party leads balloting in Nigeria
December 7, 1998
Nigerian ruler tells army to relinquish power
December 2, 1998

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